Cat and Dog Welfare

Our Cat & Dog Welfare Program has been working to improve animal the welfare of companion animals in Asia since 1998.  

The team works hand-in-hand with communities and government departments to improve the lives of local cats and dogs. We support local shelters, emergency rescues, TNR programs and constantly promote awareness through events, presentations, and our wonderful Dr Dog and Prof Paws visits.

Our approach

Animals Asia’s work to improve cat and dog welfare focuses on three key areas:

1. Public awareness

We promote messages of animal welfare and companionship, through awareness-raising initiatives including animated videos, cartoons, petitions, workshops, animal photography competitions, and countrywide events like cyclists displaying vivid poster boards.

We use animal ambassadors to create empathy for all animals through our pioneering animal therapy programs, Dr Dog and Professor Paws, which are now thriving in four mainland Chinese cities and Hong Kong. Since 1991, our registered therapy dogs have made thousands of visits to hospitals, disabled institutions, schools and elderly homes, bringing comfort and love to those who need it most.

When our founder, Jill Robinson MBE, launched Dr Dog, it was the first animal-assisted therapy program in Asia. Since then, more than 700,000 people have felt the dogs' unconditional love.

Read more: Public awareness

2. Empowering local groups

In 2023, we supported 200 Chinese NGOs that help dogs and cats, 140 of them with funds and training. We also run conferences for them, allowing problems and solutions to be debated and discussed. Our support enables these groups to introduce TNR (trap, neuter, return) programs for street cats into their communities and to produce publicity and information materials for promotional events. We also host workshops and veterinary training to groups where appropriate, and since 2020, this has included online training.

Over 3,000 people from groups across China have benefited from the training. We sponsor officials and animal welfare groups from around China to attend our Dog Ownership Management and Humane Stray Cat Management symposiums and learn effective and humane methods to control stray populations. We work with individual cities to offer advice on issues such as responsible ownership, de-sexing, rabies vaccinations and registration of dogs, as well as to help introduce and implement TNR for cats.

Read more: Empowering local groups

3. Government and policy

We engage with government authorities and policy-makers to lobby for an end to dog and cat eating and for laws to protect companion animals from cruelty. We work with local authorities to provide advice on humane population management for both strays and family companions.

We run symposiums and workshops to share best practice, and work with individual city authorities to offer advice on issues such as de-sexing, rabies vaccination and registration, as well as to help introduce and implement TNR schemes for cats.

We also run responsible dog ownership courses using animal ambassadors from our Dr Dog and Professor Paws programs. As a member of the China Rabies Prevention and Control Committee, we have been actively promoting and assisting the government to eliminate human rabies by 2030. 

Read more: Government & Policy